Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Thursday 6 January 2000

Scottish Executive

Food

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest position is as regards the licensing of butchers’ shops in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: Final proposals for licensing butchers’ shops have now been lodged with the European Commission.

  They take into account many of the comments provided by the consultation exercise earlier this year.

  There is now a mandatory three month lying period to allow for comment by Member States, after which the Regulations will be presented for parliamentary consideration. I still aim for a scheme to be in place in late summer 2000.

Health

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funds are being made available to health boards for 2000-01.

Susan Deacon: Health boards have been given a unified budget of £4,100.307 million, an increase over 1999-2000 of 5.39%. Details of each health board’s allocations are as follows:

  

 

Col. 1 

  

Col. 2 

  

Col. 3 

  



Total Unified Budget 

  

Percentage Increase 

  in Unified Budget 

  

Non-Cash Limited 

  Family Health Services 

  



Health Board 

  

£ million 

  

% 

  

£ million 

  


 
 
 
 



Argyll & Clyde 

  

358.820 

  

5.42 

  

51.449 

  



Ayrshire & Arran 

  

306.020 

  

5.25 

  

43.080 

  



Borders 

  

88.751 

  

5.32 

  

12.605 

  



Dumfries & Galloway  

  

128.738 

  

5.23 

  

17.223 

  



Fife 

  

266.800 

  

5.62 

  

36.499 

  



Forth Valley 

  

214.578 

  

5.56 

  

30.108 

  



Grampian 

  

383.820 

  

5.25 

  

56.240 

  



Greater Glasgow 

  

772.366 

  

5.41 

  

115.328 

  



Highland 

  

172.872 

  

5.36 

  

27.440 

  



Lanarkshire 

  

430.153 

  

5.46 

  

60.915 

  



Lothian 

  

571.511 

  

5.41 

  

86.252 

  



Orkney 

  

16.887 

  

4.71 

  

2.862 

  



Shetland 

  

20.172 

  

5.06 

  

2.870 

  



Tayside 

  

337.926 

  

5.37 

  

46.251 

  



Western Isles 

  

30.893 

  

4.79 

  

4.267 

  



TOTAL 

  

4,100.307 

  

5.39 

  

593.389 

  



  Note:

  Col. 1 is the total Unified Budget for 2000-01 and includes provision for Hospital and Community Health Services and the cost of drugs prescribed by general practitioners.

  Col. 2 is the annual percentage increase in the 2000-01Unified Budget compared with 1999-2000.

  Col. 3 is the Scottish Executive’s assumption of the amount needed for the non-cash limited Family Health Services and covers the costs of pharmacists’ pay, general medical services, general dental services and general ophthalmic services.

Procurement

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for modernising its procurement of goods, works and services.

Mr Jack McConnell: I have announced today the establishment of a Supervisory Board which will consider how the Executive should respond to the challenges of new markets, techniques and technology in its dealings with suppliers. I am delighted that John F McClelland, Senior Vice President of 3Com, a global IT company, has accepted my invitation to Chair the Board. The fact that we have appointed someone of his standing from the private sector underlines our commitment to listen, to learn and to be open to new ideas.

  The Board will include senior representatives drawn from across the Executive, helping us develop common strategies to address common issues. In view of the possibilities for collaboration across the wider public sector, the Board will include representatives from the Health Service and local authorities, as well as two other successful senior managers from the Scottish business community.

  It is important that the Executive takes full advantage of developments in areas such as e-commerce. Establishment of the Board will help us achieve this. Our aim, for the benefit of both taxpayers and suppliers, is to become a modern, model customer, saving money and improving the products and services we procure.

Water

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide updated information on the External Finance Limits for the Water Authorities for the current year and for 2000-01.

Sarah Boyack: The allocation of external finance for the water authorities for the current year and for 2000-01 have been redistributed to accommodate timing adjustments in their capital investment programmes in the current year. This redistribution has no impact on the total resources committed for the water industry. The revised figures are given in the following table.

  

 

Previous distribution 

  (£ million) 

  

Revised distribution 

  (£ million) 

  


 

1999-2000 

  

2000-01 

  

1999-2000 

  

2000-01 

  



ESWA 

  

70.5 

  

76.0 

  

80.5 

  

66.0 

  



WoSWA 

  

85.4 

  

90.9 

  

95.4 

  

80.9 

  



NoSWA 

  

51.0 

  

50.0 

  

46.0 

  

55.0 

  



Total EFL 

  

206.9 

  

216.9 

  

221.9 

  

201.9

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer what plans there are to make use of solar power in the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood.

Sir David Steel: The use of solar power is just one of several energy consumption reduction measures planned for the Holyrood building. An area of roof has been identified where the fitting of solar panels would have minimal visual impact in this architecturally sensitive site. The power generated will contribute to the domestic hot water supply.

Holyrood

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer what percentage of building materials used at the Holyrood site will be recycled, materials broken down by category of material.

Sir David Steel: This information is not yet available. Reconstituted stone from the demolition of the old Scottish & Newcastle buildings on the site will be used but the percentage against the total amount of stone required is not yet known. The remainder of the materials from the demolition was used for land reclamation at another site.